I. Field of Invention
This invention relates to communications systems. Specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for tracking and displaying charges incurred by users of a wireless service.
II. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communications systems are used in variety of applications involving the transfer of voice and computer data files over a wireless channel via a wireless phone or other device such as a laptop computer. As the popularity of wireless services increases, so do the demands of wireless service customers. To remain competitive and meet the demands of customers, wireless service providers must continue to incorporate new user-friendly features into their wireless devices.
Features for reporting call duration and current expenses are particularly desirable as customers may wish to tailor their service usage in accordance with current expenditures. For example, customers such as attorneys may wish to keep track current call expenditures to facilitate client billing. Currently, to access expense information, a customer must wait for a statement in the mail or must make an additional phone call to the wireless service provider. Unfortunately, the additional phone call is often inconvenient may result in additional wireless charges, and waiting until a monthly billing statement arrives is undesirable, especially for customers wishing to budget usage in accordance with recently incurred expenses.
Some wireless phones include a call storage feature that stores information, such as call duration, pertaining to several most recent calls. Unfortunately, to determine call duration, customers often must navigate through a series of esoteric software commands. To estimate charges for a given call, a customer must manually calculate the charges by multiplying the call duration by the rate per minute. Manual expense calculation is often inconvenient and may result in reduced phone battery life as the user scrolls through menus to access information about the last call.
Hence, a need exists in the art for a user-friendly system and method for efficiently generating and displaying expense reports detailing a users current charges and call duration for a particular call.